She reached carefully to put Gizelle’s paperwork back
on the desk without jostling the kitten on her shoulder, then reached up to scratch her gently, just enough to start her purring faintly near her ear.
Then she settled back in her chair more comfortably and closed her eyes.
She would give all the information to Gizelle, but mention the mental hospital privately to only Conall, without endorsement. Shifting Sands was the best place for the shy gazelle shifter, even if Scarlet was no longer who she needed most.
And if Scarlet had unanswered hungers of her own, it was nothing she hadn’t already spent decades avoiding.
Such desires were simply part of who she was... part of what she was.
She drifted to sleep with a muted purr near her ear, and dreamed of cooling rains and sunkissed somedays.